Automatic weighing apparatus.



C. GIBSON.

AUTOMAHC WEIGHING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 30. 1915.-

1,242,794. Patented 0% 9,1917.

o O Q o 23 II M l 12 I. 10 2! I I ,210 1 l 15' 4/ n if [M 15 a 4T 1 1 $7 7 T9 .5 a l zz/ h II. II 5 i h ll UNITED STATES PATENT OFFTQE.

CLARK GIBSON, OF ADAMSTO'WN, MARYLAND.

AUTOMATIC WEIGHING APPARATUS.

Application filed March 30, 1915.

To all whom it may concern:

7 Be it known that I, CLARK GIBsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Adamstown, in the county of Frederick, State of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic WVeiglr ing Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to an automatic weighing apparatus.

An object of the invention resides in the provision of a device by means of which grain will be automatically weighed.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of hoppers within the device which will alternately receive the grain and will automatically tip to precipitate the grain into the chute provided for the reception of the grain.

A still further object of the invention resides in the provision of means for controlling the tipping of the hoppers so that the amount of grain necessary to cause the tipping may be varied.

A further object of the invention resides in so arranging the hoppers that as one is moved to a position where the grain will be dumped therefrom the other will be moved into a position to receive the grain.

With these and other objects in view, such as will appear as the description progresses, my invention comprises the combination and arrangement of parts as set forth in and claims.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my device.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view, taken in a vertical plane.

Fig. 8 is a plan View.

Fig. 4 is a fragmental front elevation.

Fig. 5 is a detail of the latching member and means for supporting the hoppers.

Fig. 6 is a fragmental detail, showing the manner of guiding the shaft on which the hoppers are mounted.

Referring to the drawing wherein like parts are indicated by like characters throughout the several views In the embodiment of my invention shown in the drawing, I have provided a vertically Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 9, 1917.

Serial No. 18,122.

extending frame which consists of a base 1 and sides 2 which are in spaced relation and have a chute 3 formed therebetween, which chute forms the rear wall of the frame and is curved, as clearly shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing. A shaft at is mounted, loosely, in bearing members which are secured to the front edges of the sides 2. This shaft may have rotative, vertical. slidable and lateral movement in the bearings. Secured to this shaft 4 is a pair of hoppers 6 and 7 which are formed rigid with each other and which open in opposite directions. These hoppers are arranged in diagonal relationship so that one extends outwardly from one side of the shaft and the other from the other side of the shaft, as will be clearly seen by an inspection of Fig. 2 of the drawing. These hoppers are free to rotate with the shaft 4 above the chute 8.

In order that these hoppers may be maintained in such position that one of them will be located between the sides 2 and open upwardly and the other will be located beyond the edges of the sides and open downwardly I have provided a latch member 8 which is of U-shape and extends between the inner faces of the sides and the adjacent faces of the hopper located therebetween. This latch member is pivoted to the sides by suitable means 9, which means pass through the legs of the latch. Secured to the bight portion of the U-shaped latch are a. pair of stop members 10 which are of angular formation and are so arranged that the adjacent side of the hopper will bear thereagainst and the hoppers will be prevented from rotating in one direction. The hoppers are prevented from rotating in the opposite direction by catch members 11 which are hinged to the outer faces of the sides 2 of the frame, as at 12, and are normally pressed toward the sides by springs 18 which are secured to the said catch members and bear against keepers 14. These members 11 are provided with extensions 15 which are arranged to engage the opposite side of the hopper and prevent the rotation of the hoppers in the other direction. These members 11 are further pro vided with cams 16 on their ends by means of which they may be moved outwardly against the tension of the springs 13, in a manner to be later described. Secured to the ends of the legs of the member 8 are links 17 which are adapted for pivotal movement on the said member 8 and are pivotally con nected at their lower ends to the shaft 4;. These links 17 are held in spaced relation to the sides of the hoppers and to the inner faces of the sides 2 of the frame by a plurality of washers 18 mounted on the shaft 4. The pivots '19 on which the links 17 are mounted extend beyond the outer faces of the links and are adapted to contact with the edges of cut-out portions in the sides 2 of the frame, in a manner which will later be described. The latch member 8 is nor mally held in such position that the bight r: portion thereof will contact with the upper edge of the chute 3 by a coil spring 21 which secured to a. rod 22 at its lower end, which rod is in turn secured to the base 1 and has a link 23 on its upper end which is adapted to engage an extension 2-4: on the latch member S at any one of a plurality of points. This link 23 is maintained in a predetermined position on the extension 24: by engagement with one of the notches formed therein and when the link is shifted from will be for the hopper 6 to move downwardly by causing the shaft 4 to slide vertically downwardly in the bearings 5. When a predetermined amount of this grain is dumped into this hopper 6 it will be ,F pushed so far downwardly, by the weight of'the grain, that the bight portion of the latch member 8 will be raised about the pivot 9 and the stop members 10 lifted above the top edge of the said hopper 6. When the parts reach this position the hopper 6 will start a downward rotativc movement because of the fact that the center of gravity of the hopper 6 is to one side of the pivotal point thereof'when the hopper is filled. As this rotation occurs the grain will be cast into the chute 3 and will flow therefrom onto a table or suitable receiver (not shown). At this time the hopper 7 moves upwardly in a circular path and the edges thereof strike against the cams 16 so that the catch members 11 are moved outwardly against the tension of the springs 13 and the hopper 7 moves into the position previously'occupied by the hopper 6, while the latter moves into the position previously occupied by the hopper 7. The movement of these hoppers is arrested in the following manner: As the grain is dumped from the hopper 6 and the weight is relieved, therefrom the shaft 4 will rise in its bearings 5 and consequently the stops 1O will be lowered into the path of movement of the hoppers so that when the hopper 7 reaches the position of these stops its movement will be arrested thereby. This cycle of operation may be repeated indefinitely. The tension of the spring 21 determines the weight which is necessaryto move the hoppers dmvnwardly to such a distance that they will be free to rotate and in order that the necessary weight may be varied the link may be moved from one of the notches 25 in the extensions 24 to another, the tension of the spring increasing as the link is'moved outwardly. This is due to the fact that the distance between the outermost notch and the point of connection of the rod 22 to the base 1 is greater than the distance between this point and the innermost notch. 'The downward movement of the hoppers will be limited by the engagement of the extending ends of the pivots 19 with the edges of the cut-out portions 20 so that the hoppers will not strike against the chute 3 during their movement.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that I have provided a device by means of which predetermined amounts of grain may be automatically dumped into a chute.

I have provided a weighing mechanism so that when a predetermined amount of grain is placed in one of the hoppers the weighingmechanism, which also forms a stop for the hoppers, will be released and the hoppers'will be caused to rotate by the force of gravity so that the grain will be dumped from one of the hoppers into the chute'and the other hopper will be moved to the position previously occupied by the first mentioned hopper so that it will be in place to receive grain. Thus the movement of the hoppers will be automatic and continuous and will be caused by the weight of the gram.

Vhilo I have illustrated and described a particular embodiment of my invention, I have merely done so for the sake of convenience and I do not wish to be limited'to that particular embodiment as it is obvious that numerous changes may be made within the details of construction thereof without in any way departing from the spirit of the invention or exceeding the scope of the appended claim.

What I claim is: In an automatic weighing apparatus, the combination of a frame having spaced sides, a chute in said frame forming the rear wall thereof, a shaft rotatably mounted and slidable vertically on the front of said frame, a hopper secured to said shaft and arranged to extend between the sides of said frame, a. latch member pivotally mounted between the sides of said frame and having a portion normally engaging the upper end of tion and said stops in the path of movement said chute, said latch member having stops of said hopper. 1 0 thereon arranged to engage one side of said In testimony whereof, I affix my signahopper to prevent rotation of said shaft, ture, in the presence of two Witnesses.

'- connections between said latch member and CLARK GIBSON.

said shaft, and a spring operatively con- Witnesses: nected to said latch member to normally RICHARD R. DAY,

- maintain said shaft in its uppermost posi- JAMES I. DAY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

